No More Shadows
by Misha
Summary: Petunia's thoughts upon learning of Lily's death.


No More Shadows   
By Misha 

Disclaimer- Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling and is not mine, however much I might wish differently. However, I am not making any money off of this, so please do not sue me! 

Author's Notes- I don't know what possessed me to write this, but I did. It's a story told from Petunia's PoV right after she learns of Lily's death. I know that I made her very bitter, but that's how I saw her. This is not a happy fic. Sorry, I'm not very good of those. Well, that's all enjoy! Remember, feedback is always welcome! 

Rating- PG   


* * *

So you're dead. You and that husband of yours. 

It is not a surprise, really. I always figured that you would go off and get yourself killed. And now it has happened. 

You are gone. The beautiful one, the smart one, the talented one is dead. 

While the other one, the plain one still lives. 

You might have been the special one, but now you are gone, and I am still alive. 

I know that if Mother and Father were still alive that the knowledge would break their hearts. That I still lived, while you, their precious Lily, was dead. 

You always were the favourite. Long before that blasted letter came. 

I was the eldest sister, but I was constantly in your shadow from the time we were both very young. You had a presence about you, one that I could never compete with. 

Still, you were my sister and we always got along well. We were sisters and that was more important than anything. 

Then everything changed. 

You got that damned letter and the differences between us were worse than ever. 

Mother and Father thought you were so special, were so happy. They had produced a witch! 

God, even the thought makes me shudder. Why would anyone be glad to know that they produced one of _those_? 

But they were. They were so proud of you, said that they had always known that you were special. 

If I thought that you over-shadowed me before it was nothing like what after, was it? It was like I ceased to really matter, if I ever had. 

I was the daughter living with them, the normal one, but it was precious Lily who they were so proud of. 

I still do not see why. 

I found it perfectly horrifying. You weren't special, you were a freak. 

You did not belong in our world. Maybe you never did. 

The letter reminded me of all the differences that had always existed between us. How you had always been a little weird. 

The weirdness only got worse. Each time you came home, you were a little less like you had been. Anything normal that had existed in you, slowly faded away. 

But no one else saw it besides me, everyone else still doted on you. 

Mother and Father were thrilled when you brought home that Potter boy for them to meet. I knew that he was as much of a freak as you, but they seemed so impressed by him. 

They were never impressed by my boyfriends. 

But then again, they were never impressed by anything that I did. Why should they be? 

They had you. They had their perfect, darling Lily to dote on. Why did they need to bother with boring old Petunia? 

It did not matter to them that I was the normal one, the one who wasn't bound to embarrass them. No, all they cared about was you. 

You always had a gift for that didn't you, for making everyone think you were so special? I was told that you it was true even at that school of yours. That you were popular, had good grades, and fit in oh-so well. 

Everyone was so bewitched by you. 

Everyone except me. 

I saw the truth, saw that you weren't special. I saw that you weren't as sweet and innocent as everyone believed. 

But no one would believe me. No would listen to me when I said that you were bad news and that you would only bring trouble. 

No one except Vernon. 

He saw it right away, he never fell under your spell either. 

For the first time, I had finally met someone who did not think that the sun rose and set on you. 

That was the first moment that I began to believe that I would not always live under your shadow. That I could make a life away from you and forget that you ever existed. 

I married Vernon and then Mother and Father were killed and I was finally able to cut you out of my life. I was able to pretend that you did not exist. 

I would have been happy to keep on pretending for the rest of my life. To forget all about the strangeness that followed wherever you went. 

But no. You could not leave me in peace, could you? 

No, you had to go and die and leave me with that drafted son of yours. I see him and I know. I know that he is one of **your** kind. 

But guess what, sister dear, he will never know? 

Vernon and I have agreed. We might be stuck with the boy, but we will not allow him to become what you were. We will stamp in out of him, no matter what it takes to do so. I will not allow any strangeness to rub off onto my Dudley. 

But that is not my only reason. 

No, my other reason is because I know that you would have hated the thought of your son being raised as an ordinary Muggle, as your kind always referred to us normal people. Of the idea of him never knowing or being a part of the world that you were so proud of. 

And, believe me, he won't be. 

He will never know the truth of his upbringing. As far as we will ever know you were killed in a car accident. 

Nothing else. 

How does that sound to you? Your son not even knowing the details of your _heroic_ death. 

You do not seem so special now, do you? 

You are gone. Dead. Powerless. 

I have all the power now. The power to finally shut the weirdness out of my life forever. The weirdness that was all you. 

But now, you are dead and I do not have to hide anymore. 

I will never ever be in your shadow again. 

The End 


End file.
